U Hla Oo, thanks for the info on the books. I will definitely take a look at them later on the Internet when I have more time. I do have a collection of books, articles , reports and photos related to the CBI Theater also known as the Burma Campaign and other interesting periodicals on Burma.
I grew up during the Ne Win era, my father was from the Air Force and since he passed on, we have no connection what-so-ever with the government personnel although a few of my father’s friends are still alive living a quiet life away from the government circle.
My website http://www.cbiexpeditions.com has been set up as a tool for those who wish to travel back in time, especially to see the “road” and also to visit regions that aren’t too far off from the road. I have traveled quite extensively within the country as I return to Burma almost every year when I was living in Europe and the States.
I’ve live and worked in Europe and in America for a number of years working in different organizations but returned to Burma about 4 years ago, to see if I can do something back here.
Currently , I am working as a full-time language instructor at a French school and I organize these WWII related tours during school holidays so that I can accompanying people. Obviously, I love to travel.
As I have a full time job, I cannot run a travel company. I use a small travel agency for all my tours who does all the ground arrangements for me for the past Ledo trips and also for the amazing trip in search of “Broadway”, one of the Chindit’s strong holds somewhere in the Northern part of Burma. Yes, I managed to locate it with a 86-year old Chindit and his family.
The next Ledo Road Expedition is scheduled for beginning of Feb 2009. Hopefully, we’ll be able to reach the Pangsau pass this time!
For further info or if there is anything I can help you with, please email me at [email protected]
Khine, thanks for the complement. I went to your BCI Expeditions site and found your tours quiet interesting. I would really like to do the Ledo road tour once my situations allow me to. I have a suggestion about your tours though.
A couple of interesting books written by the insiders about that region and Burma as a whole as complementary or accompanying books would excite your clients or prospective clients if you let them read before the trips or during the trips. There are such rare books written by Burmese authors and published on internet book-web-site lulu.com.
The book “Song for Irrawaddy” could be an ideal book for Burma Road Tour and Kachin Land as the novel was based on actual events happened in the same areas your groups has to pass through.
The book “Twentieth Century Burmese Matriarch” could be another ideal book for any Burma Tour as it is the memoir of a prominent Burmese family during the periods from the colonial times to the beginning of Ne Wins’ dictatorship.
I’ve seen plenty of evidence to show that Bangkok people in general are pleased to see Obama in and the Republicans out. On the day of the election everyone in my workplace was following the election results, with the sort of fervour usually attached to football. This included not only the people upstairs in offices, but also the drivers & maintenance workers (M & F), whose domain we invade for a smoke. Most of the latter come from rural provinces. Everyone was genuinely jubilant when the result was announced. Similarly with the people in my condo block and around the markets (Rajawat) in the lower-middle-class/working-class part of Dusit where I live.
One very close friend, who is from Isan, compared the election with that of Thaksin – “..we waited in very long queues…a change in history of Thailand…”
My feeling is that although ordinary Thais are fed up with the bullying of U.S., and see the election of Obama as an encouraging sign that things are changing for world peace and possibly the economy (“…the Americans fire money…”), it is due to the fact that his candidature has given a voice to the hitherto disaffected, who have now decided to participate, rather than that the Democrats are merely, under normal circumstances, a better party for the underdog.
With regards to US Foreign Policy, many countries around the world can be divided into 2 camps: ones with “Humanitarian Issues” and ones who are a “National Security Threat”. Democrats tend to be more aggressive/belligerent to countries of the former, while Republicans tend to be more aggressive/belligerent to countries of the latter. So, US policy towards Iran, North Korea, and Cuba has a good chance of being more conciliatory, and policy towards Sudan and Burma more hostile under Obama. I didn’t want to get into the Burma issue; I brought it up vis-├а-vis ASEAN. There is more of a chance that the new Administration will bully countries like Thailand and Singapore into not dealing with Burma – an action that no country in Europe or North America would undertake if Burma were on their border.
By the way, I agree that the Crispin article is seriously flawed.
Well the only politics we do now is “Yes we can!”…..Khine just kidding…good to hear from you lady and your upcoming expedition…Theo do you have any updates about your hitting the Ledo trail sometime this winter?
In Rangoon, the mad Generals and the Business Community appear to have gladly taken the news of first the American Financial Crisis and now Obama’s win as the God sent good news.
Long depressed property prices have suddenly shot up and people with big money are seen to be committing their long term business plans again. My family has a two-storey shop house in the middle of busy Indian Town and we’ve been trying to sell the house for US$ 300,000 for last two years and the highest serious offer was 280,000 only.
Last month a Chinese businessman offered 300,000 and Just yesterday three buyers showed up and offered 350,000 out of the blue. The brokers are now encouraging us to raise the price to US$ 400,000.
Their reason was that the rumored American invasion won’t be coming and the dark shadow of general uncertainty has been suddenly lifted and the business in Burma will be good again as long as a democratic black president with strong and sympathetic links in Indonesia and Kenya is in the White House.
Ironically, Burmese generals must be the only ones who are very happy about the Financial Crisis in America.
I’m certainly no Bush fan but the Sean Crispin analysis has all the markings of conspiracy theory, weaving together disparate sorts of “evidence” into a complicated potpourri intended to elicit a highly emotional response. One moment the US is covertly pushing events in the Thaksin administration then the next moment inexplicably China is driving policy hinting that the coup may have been at the behest of the US.
I thought it was the role of academics to fact check and possibly disprove such complicated and at least from a logical standpoint counterintuitive explanations.The more reasonable explanation is that the US public is preoccupied by a host of other issues. As this blog showed there was attempted Congressional action against coup-makers.
The precedent of the Great Depression and Smoot-Hawley Act will keep the US president and his skilled economic advisors from erecting trade barriers:
“What the crash mainly precipitated was a raft of wrongheaded policies that did major damage to the economy — beginning with the disastrous retreat into protectionism marked by the passage of the Smoot-Hawley tariff, which passed the House in May 1929 and the Senate in March 1930, and was signed into law by Hoover in June 1930. As prices fell, Smoot-Hawley doubled the effective tariff duties on a wide range of manufactures and agricultural products. It triggered the beggar-thy-neighbor policies of countervailing tariffs that caused the international economy to collapse. Some have argued that the increasing likelihood that the Smoot-Hawley tariff would pass was a major contributing factor to the stock-market collapse in the fall of 1929.” (Five Myths About the Great Depression: Herbert Hoover was no proponent of laissez-faire.By ANDREW B. WILSON, Wall Street Journal, 04-11-08)
I don’t know if any of you have actually TRVELLED on the Ledo Road?
By that, I mean from Myitkyina, all the way close to the Indian border via the Hukawang Valley?
I am actually the one who have organized two trips up there and if all goes well, another trip is scheduled for Feb 2009.
It is informative to read U Hla Oo’s comments however, I only take people on the road who aren’t into politics.
Amata, may I also add another fundamental issue of ‘conflict of interests’ between business and government. This is probably a more significant issue in the context of the popular opposition (at least amongst urban-based Thais) to PMThaksin led by PAD – which occured after ShinCorp’s sale to Singapore’s Temasek. I would like to hear your views on that and also the associated alleged fraud, money laundering, false disclosure and stock manipulation related to the Winmark/SC Asset case that is currently being kept from the judiciary process (at all costs it seem).
Interestingly the Constitution Court just striked down more stringent laws on ‘conflicts of interests’ on technicalities (lack of CNS parliamentary quorum when the law was passed):
Sadly good laws such as these and also the Community Forest Bill (and to a lesser extent, the lottery bill), although far from perfect admittedly, gets shot down. Maybe the court is more consistent than you perceive.
But did you hear that Ajarn Sulak has been arrested for LM by Khon Kaen police? Apparently in relation to a speech he gave there at a human rights seminar last December.
Interestingly his lawyer thinks this could be a reaction from the government side, because of Sulak’s condemnation of Thaksin’s references to the monarchy in his phone-call to the Rajamangala rally on Saturday. Another example of the law being used as a weapon by competing factions. I understand there are 32 ongoing investigations into cases of LM at the moment – a record number I think.
That speech, BTW, is fascinating when you dissect it – the use of the phrase ‘rajaprachasamasai’ by Vera Musikapong a clear appeal by the Red Shirts to the monarchy to be on the side of the ‘real people’.
“I would reply to jonfernquest but could not remain in the bounds of NM’s policies.”
1. You’re not using your real name, as you yourself admitted in a previous post. Some of us following corporate policy (and perhaps the law too) are required to use our real name. Having a debate with someone with a paper bag over their head is not really fair.
2. If you cannot respond within the bounds of the rules set forth in this forum this would seem to be your problem.
3. The self-righteousness that you exhibit is what is what keeps this conflict going. There are two legitimate sides to this conflict despite your inability to recognise this.
I would like to know what defines LM? Language and gestures that do not pay respect of course. But are there more insidious instances of laying such a charge?
If it’s good for the morale of your foot soldiers, it doesn’t hurt to do it.
In times of risk and uncertainty, humans always look up to higher power to steady their resolve. More sophisticated post-modern humans may have some more abstract concept as their guiding principles…but all the same, it’s just how one is conditioned.
Not very much. He will have his hands full with other much more urgent problems. Since the bilateral relationship have been fairly steady, Thailand will be low priorities.
Not very much is at stake for USA in Southeast Asia, to be honest. Maybe some terrorism issues, but Obama grew up in Indonesia, I think that will help with the relationship a bit. The question of Burma, well, China is the one you should talk to, not USA.
HRH Somdej Phra Debaratanarajasuda Chao Fa Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Rathasimagunakornpiyajat Sayamboromrajakumari for the throne any day! Open your eyes and see the light. Any reasonable person would see that Sirindhorn is the best choice, perhaps the only choice. Choose others and be prepared to regress.
Australian writer Harry Nicolaides is a victim of internal politics of
Thai Government which is using him , to show its support for the country’s royal family, providing a smoke screen from the real issues in Thailand.
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The Stilwell Road
Dear U Hla Oo and Sangos,
Thanks for the messages!
U Hla Oo, thanks for the info on the books. I will definitely take a look at them later on the Internet when I have more time. I do have a collection of books, articles , reports and photos related to the CBI Theater also known as the Burma Campaign and other interesting periodicals on Burma.
I grew up during the Ne Win era, my father was from the Air Force and since he passed on, we have no connection what-so-ever with the government personnel although a few of my father’s friends are still alive living a quiet life away from the government circle.
My website http://www.cbiexpeditions.com has been set up as a tool for those who wish to travel back in time, especially to see the “road” and also to visit regions that aren’t too far off from the road. I have traveled quite extensively within the country as I return to Burma almost every year when I was living in Europe and the States.
I’ve live and worked in Europe and in America for a number of years working in different organizations but returned to Burma about 4 years ago, to see if I can do something back here.
Currently , I am working as a full-time language instructor at a French school and I organize these WWII related tours during school holidays so that I can accompanying people. Obviously, I love to travel.
As I have a full time job, I cannot run a travel company. I use a small travel agency for all my tours who does all the ground arrangements for me for the past Ledo trips and also for the amazing trip in search of “Broadway”, one of the Chindit’s strong holds somewhere in the Northern part of Burma. Yes, I managed to locate it with a 86-year old Chindit and his family.
The next Ledo Road Expedition is scheduled for beginning of Feb 2009. Hopefully, we’ll be able to reach the Pangsau pass this time!
For further info or if there is anything I can help you with, please email me at [email protected]
The Stilwell Road
Khine, thanks for the complement. I went to your BCI Expeditions site and found your tours quiet interesting. I would really like to do the Ledo road tour once my situations allow me to. I have a suggestion about your tours though.
A couple of interesting books written by the insiders about that region and Burma as a whole as complementary or accompanying books would excite your clients or prospective clients if you let them read before the trips or during the trips. There are such rare books written by Burmese authors and published on internet book-web-site lulu.com.
The book “Song for Irrawaddy” could be an ideal book for Burma Road Tour and Kachin Land as the novel was based on actual events happened in the same areas your groups has to pass through.
http://www.lulu.com/content/3699829
The book “Twentieth Century Burmese Matriarch” could be another ideal book for any Burma Tour as it is the memoir of a prominent Burmese family during the periods from the colonial times to the beginning of Ne Wins’ dictatorship.
http://www.lulu.com/content/1933126
Murk
What exactly is the meaning of‘ ‘rajaprachasamasai’ ?
Has the PAD ever used this reference?
Regional reaction to Obama
I’ve seen plenty of evidence to show that Bangkok people in general are pleased to see Obama in and the Republicans out. On the day of the election everyone in my workplace was following the election results, with the sort of fervour usually attached to football. This included not only the people upstairs in offices, but also the drivers & maintenance workers (M & F), whose domain we invade for a smoke. Most of the latter come from rural provinces. Everyone was genuinely jubilant when the result was announced. Similarly with the people in my condo block and around the markets (Rajawat) in the lower-middle-class/working-class part of Dusit where I live.
One very close friend, who is from Isan, compared the election with that of Thaksin – “..we waited in very long queues…a change in history of Thailand…”
My feeling is that although ordinary Thais are fed up with the bullying of U.S., and see the election of Obama as an encouraging sign that things are changing for world peace and possibly the economy (“…the Americans fire money…”), it is due to the fact that his candidature has given a voice to the hitherto disaffected, who have now decided to participate, rather than that the Democrats are merely, under normal circumstances, a better party for the underdog.
Regional reaction to Obama
With regards to US Foreign Policy, many countries around the world can be divided into 2 camps: ones with “Humanitarian Issues” and ones who are a “National Security Threat”. Democrats tend to be more aggressive/belligerent to countries of the former, while Republicans tend to be more aggressive/belligerent to countries of the latter. So, US policy towards Iran, North Korea, and Cuba has a good chance of being more conciliatory, and policy towards Sudan and Burma more hostile under Obama. I didn’t want to get into the Burma issue; I brought it up vis-├а-vis ASEAN. There is more of a chance that the new Administration will bully countries like Thailand and Singapore into not dealing with Burma – an action that no country in Europe or North America would undertake if Burma were on their border.
By the way, I agree that the Crispin article is seriously flawed.
The Stilwell Road
Well the only politics we do now is “Yes we can!”…..Khine just kidding…good to hear from you lady and your upcoming expedition…Theo do you have any updates about your hitting the Ledo trail sometime this winter?
Regional reaction to Obama
In Rangoon, the mad Generals and the Business Community appear to have gladly taken the news of first the American Financial Crisis and now Obama’s win as the God sent good news.
Long depressed property prices have suddenly shot up and people with big money are seen to be committing their long term business plans again. My family has a two-storey shop house in the middle of busy Indian Town and we’ve been trying to sell the house for US$ 300,000 for last two years and the highest serious offer was 280,000 only.
Last month a Chinese businessman offered 300,000 and Just yesterday three buyers showed up and offered 350,000 out of the blue. The brokers are now encouraging us to raise the price to US$ 400,000.
Their reason was that the rumored American invasion won’t be coming and the dark shadow of general uncertainty has been suddenly lifted and the business in Burma will be good again as long as a democratic black president with strong and sympathetic links in Indonesia and Kenya is in the White House.
Ironically, Burmese generals must be the only ones who are very happy about the Financial Crisis in America.
Regional reaction to Obama
I’m certainly no Bush fan but the Sean Crispin analysis has all the markings of conspiracy theory, weaving together disparate sorts of “evidence” into a complicated potpourri intended to elicit a highly emotional response. One moment the US is covertly pushing events in the Thaksin administration then the next moment inexplicably China is driving policy hinting that the coup may have been at the behest of the US.
I thought it was the role of academics to fact check and possibly disprove such complicated and at least from a logical standpoint counterintuitive explanations.The more reasonable explanation is that the US public is preoccupied by a host of other issues. As this blog showed there was attempted Congressional action against coup-makers.
The precedent of the Great Depression and Smoot-Hawley Act will keep the US president and his skilled economic advisors from erecting trade barriers:
“What the crash mainly precipitated was a raft of wrongheaded policies that did major damage to the economy — beginning with the disastrous retreat into protectionism marked by the passage of the Smoot-Hawley tariff, which passed the House in May 1929 and the Senate in March 1930, and was signed into law by Hoover in June 1930. As prices fell, Smoot-Hawley doubled the effective tariff duties on a wide range of manufactures and agricultural products. It triggered the beggar-thy-neighbor policies of countervailing tariffs that caused the international economy to collapse. Some have argued that the increasing likelihood that the Smoot-Hawley tariff would pass was a major contributing factor to the stock-market collapse in the fall of 1929.” (Five Myths About the Great Depression: Herbert Hoover was no proponent of laissez-faire.By ANDREW B. WILSON, Wall Street Journal, 04-11-08)
The Stilwell Road
I don’t know if any of you have actually TRVELLED on the Ledo Road?
By that, I mean from Myitkyina, all the way close to the Indian border via the Hukawang Valley?
I am actually the one who have organized two trips up there and if all goes well, another trip is scheduled for Feb 2009.
It is informative to read U Hla Oo’s comments however, I only take people on the road who aren’t into politics.
“Speech by a special guest”
Amata, may I also add another fundamental issue of ‘conflict of interests’ between business and government. This is probably a more significant issue in the context of the popular opposition (at least amongst urban-based Thais) to PMThaksin led by PAD – which occured after ShinCorp’s sale to Singapore’s Temasek. I would like to hear your views on that and also the associated alleged fraud, money laundering, false disclosure and stock manipulation related to the Winmark/SC Asset case that is currently being kept from the judiciary process (at all costs it seem).
Interestingly the Constitution Court just striked down more stringent laws on ‘conflicts of interests’ on technicalities (lack of CNS parliamentary quorum when the law was passed):
“Kudep glad conflict of interest law nixed”
in
http://www.bangkokpost.net/071108_News/07Nov2008_news07.php
Sadly good laws such as these and also the Community Forest Bill (and to a lesser extent, the lottery bill), although far from perfect admittedly, gets shot down. Maybe the court is more consistent than you perceive.
Murk
But did you hear that Ajarn Sulak has been arrested for LM by Khon Kaen police? Apparently in relation to a speech he gave there at a human rights seminar last December.
Interestingly his lawyer thinks this could be a reaction from the government side, because of Sulak’s condemnation of Thaksin’s references to the monarchy in his phone-call to the Rajamangala rally on Saturday. Another example of the law being used as a weapon by competing factions. I understand there are 32 ongoing investigations into cases of LM at the moment – a record number I think.
That speech, BTW, is fascinating when you dissect it – the use of the phrase ‘rajaprachasamasai’ by Vera Musikapong a clear appeal by the Red Shirts to the monarchy to be on the side of the ‘real people’.
Murk
“I would reply to jonfernquest but could not remain in the bounds of NM’s policies.”
1. You’re not using your real name, as you yourself admitted in a previous post. Some of us following corporate policy (and perhaps the law too) are required to use our real name. Having a debate with someone with a paper bag over their head is not really fair.
2. If you cannot respond within the bounds of the rules set forth in this forum this would seem to be your problem.
3. The self-righteousness that you exhibit is what is what keeps this conflict going. There are two legitimate sides to this conflict despite your inability to recognise this.
Lèse majesté and Harry Nicolaides
I would like to know what defines LM? Language and gestures that do not pay respect of course. But are there more insidious instances of laying such a charge?
Adam
What is the man who oversaw the Tak Bai massacre doing in Australia?
I thought Pallop (the car bomb meister) is the one calling the shot at the scene, and Paisarn is the fall guy, no?
Thaksin and the Brahmins
If it’s good for the morale of your foot soldiers, it doesn’t hurt to do it.
In times of risk and uncertainty, humans always look up to higher power to steady their resolve. More sophisticated post-modern humans may have some more abstract concept as their guiding principles…but all the same, it’s just how one is conditioned.
Regional reaction to Obama
Not very much. He will have his hands full with other much more urgent problems. Since the bilateral relationship have been fairly steady, Thailand will be low priorities.
Not very much is at stake for USA in Southeast Asia, to be honest. Maybe some terrorism issues, but Obama grew up in Indonesia, I think that will help with the relationship a bit. The question of Burma, well, China is the one you should talk to, not USA.
Regional reaction to Obama
Here is an article by Shawn Crispin on “What Obama means to Bangkok”.
Murk
Good news Jonathan. The recent Asia Sentinel piece I think claimed you’d been charged.
Chang Noi on ‘unity’ and the dictatorship
HRH Somdej Phra Debaratanarajasuda Chao Fa Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Rathasimagunakornpiyajat Sayamboromrajakumari for the throne any day! Open your eyes and see the light. Any reasonable person would see that Sirindhorn is the best choice, perhaps the only choice. Choose others and be prepared to regress.
Ji Ungpakorn on the abolition of lèse majesté
Australian writer Harry Nicolaides is a victim of internal politics of
Thai Government which is using him , to show its support for the country’s royal family, providing a smoke screen from the real issues in Thailand.